Attention Grabber!
Sing Sing crouched beside the sofa, holding the Pig Butchering Knife, its blade still glistening with grease.
"Why are you holding a knife?" Polaris turned her head warily.
"To remove the chip."
"You're going to operate on me with a pig-butchering knife?"
Polaris's voice rose. If her position hadn't restricted her, she could have sent the knife straight up Sing Sing's nostril.
"Relax. This knife can cut a pig's kidney without breaking the membrane. Precision and minimal invasion are its specialties."
Sing Sing flicked the blade with a bent finger, making it hum.
"Back at the market, Master Wang, who sold sliced kidneys, offered me a thousand for this knife. I still wouldn't sell it."
"It's my dearest friend, my own flesh and blood."
"Shut up!"
Seeing that his patient was upset, Sing Sing sighed, tucked the Pig Butchering Knife behind his waist, and pulled a small knife from his pocket.
"All right. Since you're prejudiced against traditional craftsmanship, we'll use a precision instrument."
Polaris bit down on the sofa cushion.
"Hurry up."
"Don't be nervous. Take a deep breath."
Sing Sing rotated his wrist, loosening the joint.
"First I'll use qi to seal off the blood vessels in the area. It's equivalent to physical general anesthesia, and it'll keep you from bleeding too much."
Soft Serve asked quietly,
"Should we disinfect it?"
Sing Sing pulled out half a bottle of Erguotou.
"The people's everyday liquor: medical disinfectant, combat power-up, and social icebreaker, all in one."
"Drink it and it won't go to your head; apply it and the wound won't get infected."
Polaris nearly sprang off the sofa.
"If you dare pour liquor on me, I'll kill you!"
Sing Sing put the bottle away with regret.
"The patient isn't cooperating. That makes treatment very difficult."
Soft Serve tucked the sheet in tight again, her fingertips trembling.
This was her first time taking part in something as a helper.
Sing Sing pressed down with his fingertips and drew the small knife along the skin, making an incision.
His movements were so swift that Polaris felt only a light prick.
The tip of the knife lifted, and a chip the size of a grain of rice came free of her flesh.
The chip was wrapped in gray material, with a red dot blinking on its surface.
"Found it."
The Tracking Chip lay in Sing Sing's palm.
Polaris got dressed and sat up on the sofa.
"Crush it."
Sing Sing glanced at her.
"What a waste that would be."
"That thing was inside my body for a year!"
"That's all the more reason not to crush it casually."
Sing Sing said seriously,
"It worked inside your body for a year. That proves it's dependable, has excellent battery life, and a reliable signal."
"It's rare to find an American military-industrial product that actually works. Destroying it outright would go against the principles of resource recycling."
Soft Serve stood to one side, holding the tub, and asked,
"Then what do you want to do with it?"
Sing Sing held the chip above his head, up to the light.
"Let it keep shining and giving off heat."
Polaris narrowed her eyes.
"You're going to use it to lure Stryker out?"
Sing Sing shook his head.
"I call it grassroots research."
"Research into what?"
"The contradictory relationship between public safety in America's gangland and the military's outsourced pursuit system."
"In plain English."
"Stick it in some unlucky bastard and let Stryker chase him instead."
Sing Sing went to the window and looked down. Several Black Snake Gang thugs were still lying by the roadside.
After Number One had dealt with them, few were still alive.
Most of the people who had come to collect protection money carrying gasoline drums had gone to meet God.
A bald thug clutched his severed arm and pulled out his phone, dialing with trembling hands.
Sing Sing pointed at him.
"He'll do."
Polaris frowned.
"He's scared himself nearly pissless."
"Poor mental fortitude is no excuse for avoiding employment."
Sing Sing put the chip in a plastic bag and sealed it.
"Doesn't the Black Snake Gang like collecting protection money?"
"Now we'll assign him a protection-related position."
Soft Serve asked in a low voice,
"What position?"
Sing Sing said seriously,
"Stryker attention grabber."
Polaris looked at him for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed.
"You really are crazy."
"Thanks for the compliment."
"But right now, we need to pack up and get out of here."
Soft Serve froze. "Now?"
"What else? Wait for Stryker to send a second, third, and fourth one over for a tea party?"
Sing Sing walked to the doorway and looked down at the split door, then turned back to Soft Serve.
"ID, cash, underwear, important keepsakes. Pack them in five minutes."
"Leave the ice cream tub."
Soft Serve instinctively hugged the tub tighter. "I paid three dollars for this."
Sing Sing was filled with respect. "Thrift is an admirable quality."
"Comrade Little Soft, you already have the basic qualifications to join a grassroots work unit."
Five minutes later, the three of them walked out of apartment 604.
Polaris had put on an old jacket and a pair of jeans that Soft Serve had found. They were a little tight, stretched taut over her legs.
Sing Sing's eyes had only drifted over for half a second.
"Look again and I'll charge you."
"I was checking whether your gait was abnormal after the chip's removal."
Sing Sing looked utterly righteous. "Haven't you heard of postoperative observation? Our unit cares about the physical and mental health of our female comrades."
In the hallway, rusty water pipes creaked.
Sing Sing kept his eyes straight ahead.
"Recovering well, excellent mobility. Fit for light manual labor."
Soft Serve wore a canvas bag on her back and held the ice cream tub in her arms.
As she neared the stairwell, she stopped and looked back at the apartment.
"Don't want to leave it behind?"
Soft Serve lowered her head.
"It's not that."
"It's just that I've always been moving, and every time, I was running away."
"My foster parents didn't want me anymore, so I ran."
"My landlord threw me out, so I ran."
"My neighbors found out I was a Mutant, so I ran."
"This is the longest I've ever lived anywhere."
Polaris stood beside her without a word.
She knew the feeling.
Changing foster homes, staying in temporary shelters, going into police stations and laboratories.
There wasn't a door in the world she could open and find someone telling her, "This is your room."
Sing Sing fell silent for a second.
Then he pulled out the note about reimbursing the door, thought for a moment, and added a few lines on the back.
He stuck the paper to the doorframe of apartment 604, pressing it down with tape.
Soft Serve looked over.
It read:
The former occupant of this residence has been transferred after joining a major overseas infrastructure project.
Reimbursement for the damaged door is pending.
For any debt disputes, please contact the overseas temporary office of the Seventh Urban and Rural Infrastructure Engineering Team.
Additionally: The Black Snake Gang's protection fee is an illegal charge. You are advised to cancel it yourselves.
Signed: Ling Ling Qi.
Soft Serve looked at the paper.
She knew perfectly well that it had no legal force, and that even the phone number might not connect.
"Hey, hey, hey, don't cry."
"I'm most afraid of women crying."
"If you cry, I might put the decimal point in the wrong place when I file for reimbursement later."
"If I write your three dollars as three hundred, Director Wang could send me off to guard a border outpost."
He pulled down his felt hat, turned, and headed for the stairwell.
"What are you standing around for?"
"Come on, let's go. We need to hurry downstairs and give that bald little brother his iron rice bowl job. Any later and he'll be cold all the way through."
Polaris watched his carefree figure from behind, and the wariness in her eyes faded a little. She tilted her head slightly toward Soft Serve, who was still wiping away tears.
"Let's go."
Her tone was calm, without a trace of mockery.